Marguerite
Active Member
It's sad but our lovely long weekend is heading to its conclusion. easy child & boyfriend have left to go home - they need their Sunday at home in Canberra so they're ready for work on Monday. I have a busy day tomorrow, collaborating with a friend on that article on bullying. husband is heading to his beloved tiny trains and I think easy child 2/difficult child 2 is working again.
Our hot weather has temporarily cooled off, hopefully reducing temptation to kids to extend summer holidays beyond their allotted time. Life is about to get busy again - school goes back next week. Technically it's back on Tuesday (Monday, for teachers) but if I can I'll get difficult child 3 to begin work on Monday. He can ease into it gently, especially if I promise him some midday beach time later in the week when the sun comes back out.
Oh, and for those who didn't understand what I mean by Vegemite - for reasons I've never understood it's something peculiarly Australian. The Brits have Marmite, which I hate because it tastes like someone spilt a pinch of sugar in it by mistake and it just tastes WRONG.
Vegemite is greasy looking and black and looks like axle grease. It's salty and savoury, very strongly flavoured. Imagine if you had a vat of soy sauce and boiled it down - you'd get something a bit like Vegemite. It's loaded with B vitamins - and salt - but when you grow up with it around you generally enjoy it. But the BIG problem with Vegemite - people who don't know it and who are trying it for the first time will often spread it on thick, like jam or peanut butter. Vegemite should be spread as thinly as possible, because the flavour is so strong. But spread thinly onto buttered bread it's delicious as a savoury snack. Other ways to have it - smeared thinly with a finger onto celery sticks (it should be so thinly spread it looks pale brown). it can flavour a stew, instead of a beef stock cube. It's vegetarian, so it's good as added flavour and vitamins in vegetarian dishes and soups.
It's fabulous for invalids who are fed up with plain dry bread or flat lemonade - after being ill for days I would be sick to death of sweet clear fluids and be longing for something savoury. I always knew I was getting better when I was given cracker biscuits thinly spread with Vegemite - heaven to a jaded palate!
But you don't HAVE to like it. Not all Aussies do. Only most of them. The vast majority, maybe. It's a bit like Aussies and Aussie beer - some people say all Aussies drink beer - well, not me. I've never had the stuff and I never want to. There are other, lesser-known and in my opinion more palatable options.
Anyway, enough education. Enjoy your Saturday, everyone.
Marg
Our hot weather has temporarily cooled off, hopefully reducing temptation to kids to extend summer holidays beyond their allotted time. Life is about to get busy again - school goes back next week. Technically it's back on Tuesday (Monday, for teachers) but if I can I'll get difficult child 3 to begin work on Monday. He can ease into it gently, especially if I promise him some midday beach time later in the week when the sun comes back out.
Oh, and for those who didn't understand what I mean by Vegemite - for reasons I've never understood it's something peculiarly Australian. The Brits have Marmite, which I hate because it tastes like someone spilt a pinch of sugar in it by mistake and it just tastes WRONG.
Vegemite is greasy looking and black and looks like axle grease. It's salty and savoury, very strongly flavoured. Imagine if you had a vat of soy sauce and boiled it down - you'd get something a bit like Vegemite. It's loaded with B vitamins - and salt - but when you grow up with it around you generally enjoy it. But the BIG problem with Vegemite - people who don't know it and who are trying it for the first time will often spread it on thick, like jam or peanut butter. Vegemite should be spread as thinly as possible, because the flavour is so strong. But spread thinly onto buttered bread it's delicious as a savoury snack. Other ways to have it - smeared thinly with a finger onto celery sticks (it should be so thinly spread it looks pale brown). it can flavour a stew, instead of a beef stock cube. It's vegetarian, so it's good as added flavour and vitamins in vegetarian dishes and soups.
It's fabulous for invalids who are fed up with plain dry bread or flat lemonade - after being ill for days I would be sick to death of sweet clear fluids and be longing for something savoury. I always knew I was getting better when I was given cracker biscuits thinly spread with Vegemite - heaven to a jaded palate!
But you don't HAVE to like it. Not all Aussies do. Only most of them. The vast majority, maybe. It's a bit like Aussies and Aussie beer - some people say all Aussies drink beer - well, not me. I've never had the stuff and I never want to. There are other, lesser-known and in my opinion more palatable options.
Anyway, enough education. Enjoy your Saturday, everyone.
Marg
